Babies Recognize Languages Very Early

Studies of how unborn children respond are fascinating, and I witnessed how one of my newborn children recognized my voice. I spoke, and he tried to turn his head in my direction! It has been recommended that expectant parents talk to their developing children; some also read to them.

It has been discovered that babies have a built-in ability to learn and are also ready to read. Naturally, it fits right in that they are ready to learn the language of the people around them. It was discovered that they learn it earlier than scientists thought.

Baby feet in crib, RGBstock / Jean Scheijen

For that matter, it is known that children are far more adept at learning more than one language, but it is often difficult for adults to learn additional languages. It would be in the best interests for children of parents who do not speak the language of the country where they live to learn that country's language as well as the one their parents speak. That way, the whole family doesn't have to expect everyone else to cater to their defiant whims.

Since babies cannot do much to respond to scientific studies, those studies had to be conducted using close observation and unique techniques. Clearly, this adds to the list that our Creator has designed his image-bearers for survival in the world. We must teach them the truth of God's Word in their early days.

Brain and language specialist Eylem Altuntas told us last week at Real Clear Science that “Babies Learn Language Much Earlier Than We Thought”:

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Although perhaps surprising to many, this is not a unique find, as stories from 2023 and 2024 respectively show.

But the current researchers, Eylem Altuntas, Catherine T. Best, Marina Kalashnikova, Antonia Götz, and Denis Burnham, did an experiment:

You can read all of this short article at "Babies and Language: A Surprise Finding?"